Blades of Glory
Blades of Glory is a 2007 American comedy film directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon, and starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder. The movie was released on March 29, 2007 produced by MTV Films, Red Hour and Smart Entertainment, released by DreamWorks Pictures and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was released on DVD and HD DVD on August 7, 2007 and released on Blu-ray Disc on May 20, 2008. Plot When rivalry between the world's best men's figure skaters - sex addicted, improvisational Chazz Michael Michaels and germophobic, precise Jimmy MacElroy - breaks into a fight on the awards platform, they're banned from the event for life. Three years later, desire for a gold medal and a careful reading of the rules lead them to compete as skating's first male-male pair. Can they overcome mutual dislike, limited time to prepare, their coach's secret past, and the dirty tricks of their main opponents, the Van Waldenberg siblings? The key to victory or defeat may lie in the attraction of the virginal Jimmy toward Katie, the Van Waldenbergs' little sister. Trivia Jon Heder broke his ankle while training to ice-skate. 1980 Olympian Lisa Marie Allen was not only the assistant skating choreographer on this movie, but she also appears in the film as the blond "Sweater Mom" who gets licked on the face by Will Ferrell's character during his Stockholm solo. According to the flags being raised, the four medalists at Worlds were from the United States, South Korea, and Sweden. South Korea has never medaled in men's singles at the World Championships, and Sweden has not medaled in that discipline since 1929. Furthermore, in the event of a first place tie, there would be no silver medal handed out, only the bronze, meaning that Sweden would have to suffice with a bronze and South Korea would have been left empty handed in fourth place. All of the scenes at the World Figure Skating Championships were shot at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Will Arnett and Amy Poehler (who play siblings in the film) are actually married. The van Waldenberg name was taken from the family name of one of the writers. The writers claim that 88.773% of Will Ferrell's dialogue is improvised or changed in some way to suit his persona. The hotel that Jimmy and Chazz stay in when they're in Montreal is actually a famous building called "Habitat 67", designed by Moshe Safdie in honor of Canada's centennial. In reality it is not a hotel, but a privately owned condominium complex. Chazz Michael Michaels' skating style was inspired by the skating style of Elvis Stojko. In a website online, Johnny Weir comments on the fact that Jimmy and he have the same style. The peacock outfit was actually based on Weir's swan outfit from the 2006 Winter Olympics. Both of the costumes incorporated the skaters' arms as the necks and the hands as the beaks of the birds. Jon Heder apparently made an offhand suggestion and was surprised to find that the costume was being created for him. Ben Stiller was considered for the role of Chazz Michael Michaels but he decided the character was too much like other roles he had played. Real skaters making cameos include, Sasha Cohen, Scott Hamilton, Peggy Fleming, Brian Boitano, Dorothy Hamill, Nancy Kerrigan, Kyoko Ina, Yuka Sato, Jamie Salé, and David Pelletier. Due to problems with the 6.0 system, Chazz and Jimmy are forced to share a gold medal, a reference to the 2002 Olympic Winter Games figure skating scandal. Stranz and Fairchild plot to injure Chazz "below the knee and above the ankle", references the attack on Nancy Kerrigan prior to the 1994 Olympics. Both Jon Heder and Will Ferrell learned how to ice skate for the movie. They trained extensively with Michelle Kwan's coach Sarah Kawahara. Directed by the same duo who are responsible for the Geico "Caveman Commercials." Shipped to theaters under the name "Partners". Jon Heder spent two years in Japan as a Mormon missionary, and learned to speak Japanese fluently. He showcases this talent during the press conference when he responds flawlessly to a reporter's question posed in Japanese. At the Sex Addict's Anonymous meeting, the "Sex Addict's Prayer" (as shown on the prayer card) is: "God, Grant me the serenity to not have sex with my friend's girlfriend, the courage to go home tonight without having sex with my friends girlfriend, and the wisdom to walk away from my friend's smokin' hot girlfriend." Although it is only referred to subtly throughout the film, the filmmakers intended for the characters of Coach (Craig T. Nelson) and Jesse (Romany Malco) to be understood as romantic, as well as professional, partners. Some indications of that include the stained glass window in the kitchen showing the Coach and Jesse together (surrounded by hearts) and the triangle-shaped rainbow ornament visible on their shelf during one scene. Jay-Z and Kanye West used excerpts of the movie in the beginning and middle parts of their latest single "Ni**as In Paris" from the Watch The Throne LP: "We dance to one song and one song only", "It's provocative, it get's the people going!" For eight years, Craig T. Nelson was the title character in a situation comedy called "Coach." In this movie, his character's name is Coach. Box office The movie grossed $33,014,202 on its opening weekend on March 30 — April 1 with 3,372 theaters, averaging $9,790 per screen, beating out Disney's Meet the Robinsons to be the number 1 film. It made $22.5 million in its second weekend, losing only 32% of its audience and retaining the Number 1 spot. As of December 3, 2007 the film has made $118,245,842 in America and $26,264,403 in the foreign market place. Its worldwide tally is $145,708,642. Henry's copy Henry has the 2007 DVD of this movie from DreamWorks Home Entertainment. It has previews of Bee Movie, Transformers, Shrek the Third, and the best of Will Ferrell. The special features on it are deleted scenes, a gag reel, alternate takes, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and other stuff.